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Planobilly

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FlightSimmer

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  1. Hi, My first flights were a bit strange because they were in a DC3 and then in a Beach 18 as a kid. I got my Private in a Citabria and my Commerical in a Cessna 411. The check ride pilot was not real happy with the prospects of riding in a 411. Geared engines and all that hand grenade on a throttle cable stuff...lol A 411 has a bad reputation for killing people. I never found it to be any problem, less rudder authority than I would like but "hot and high" has always kept me out of trouble. I have flown a good many taildraggers, Beach 18 and T6 Texan beings a bit of a hand full. I quit flying Stearmans before I ground looped one...lol Nastiest airplane I ever flew was a Metroliner, San Antonio Tubes...lol Two or three good landings out of ten if you were lucky on a short strip. At 76 years young I only ride in the right seat on occasion with some of my younger friends. I have been flying in the new Microsoft flight sim to all my old West coast airports of my younger years. Some things in the sim I had to smile at. The "white spot" a dry lake bed just past Twenty Nine Palms that you have to pass to go to Bullhead City (IFP) from the LA basin to get around the restricted airspace looked like the real thing. Anyway, I have always thought it made me a better pilot to train in a taildragger. How about you guys? Any Extra 300 or Pitt Special pilots out there? Billy
  2. Hi, I just got Microsoft Flight Sim 2020 and a Turtle Beach VelocityOne controller. The first few flights did not work well until I set everything too hard. I have a commercial multi-engine instrument rating. I flew a Pilatus Porter from LAX (LAX is Los Angles) to IFP (IFP is Bullhead City AZ) I had to land there at night so that was a little difficult and the tailwheel aircraft does not handle like a real one but I managed to land without issue. The landing lights were not useful. I know the way as I have flown in the LA basin many hundreds of hours. Everything on the ground was pretty recognizable. The altitude of the mountains in the Banning pass looked about right. The white lake bed just past Twenty Nine Palms looks real. You have to pass that spot before you can turn toward Bullhead to stay out of the restricted airspace (MOA). Nothing was shown on the VFR chart except airport letters, IFP for example. No MOA or other critical information. I have not flown that route for more than fifteen years but some stuff I guess you just don't forget. So...is this just how it works or am I missing something? Can you display IFR low altitude charts? First impression, fun game, great visuals, not much like the real thing. Billy
  3. As I read through this I came to this statement. "It’s my considered opinion that pilots who learn to apply Jacobson’s techniques can make consistently good landings, provided they know how to configure their aircraft and fly a stable approach at the appropriate airspeed.’ " "provided they know how to configure their aircraft and fly a stable approach at the appropriate airspeed" This is the most important factor in making consistently good landings. The correct glide path, correct speed, and correct rate of descent. What makes for hard landings? To high rate of descent caused by incorrect pitch angle and speed or both. I assume you would know where to look to judge your position in relation to the runway. Sometimes one of the flight instructors would send a student pilot to me because they could not land the plane. I would have them fly the plane down the runway and have them reduce power and demand they not let the plane touch the ground. Of course, the plane would land itself. This relates to GA aircraft. Stop trying to land the airplane and fly the airplane. You can stop flying the airplane when the engine is off and the parking brake is set. Landing an airplane is no more difficult than any other phase of flight with normal weather. When I had 200 hours I thought I knew how to fly. When I had 2000 hours I thought I was a pretty good pilot. When I had 6000 hours I realized how little I knew and how totally unformed I was at 2000 hours. At 8000 hours things became a little more dangerous because I did know how to fly and pushed the plane and myself closer to the limits. At 10,000 hours I stopped making approaches down to minimums and flying into known icing conditions and stopped flying Part 135. Nothing about flying is difficult until you put yourself into conditions that exceed your ability to deal with them. It is truly amassing how quickly one can find themself in over their head....lol Billy
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